


Yunho's Lessons in Communication

by emberanne



Series: To the nights that turned into mornings, and the friends who turned into family [4]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, ateez doesn't know how to communicate, dancer yunho, domestic yungi, established yungi friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22264276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emberanne/pseuds/emberanne
Summary: Jeong Yunho would do just about anything for his friends.Apparently, anything includes climbing the stairwell to San's dorm at 10 in the morning, counseling Hongjoong in the middle of their art history lecture, and spotting for Jongho at the gym as he figures out his first crush. All their problems seem pretty simple to Yunho and Yunho kind of wants to tear his hair out by the end of it all.It's a good thing Mingi knows just how to make Yunho feel better after a long day.
Relationships: Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi
Series: To the nights that turned into mornings, and the friends who turned into family [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586962
Comments: 9
Kudos: 219





	Yunho's Lessons in Communication

Jeong Yunho was probably the friendliest person on campus. 

Always has been, always will be. It wasn’t that Yunho was actively trying to be friends with everyone, it was just that he had a good personality and was ultimately a good person. At least, that’s what people told him. 

He was a happy person who liked to smile at the people he passed on the street. He liked to laugh and make other people laugh with him. He liked to have happy conversations with complete strangers. He liked to tease his friends and do dumb things with them that they’d laugh about for weeks. 

He liked to make other people happy and he’d do just about anything for his friends. He’d answer any call, any text, would be there for any SOS. He’d stop the world for his friends. 

It was a little exhausting sometimes. 

Sometimes, Yunho helped maybe a little too much. Sometimes, he was so focused on being happy for other people that he wasn’t happy for himself. 

That was where Mingi stepped in. 

Yunho had known Mingi for the past four years. They’d clicked the instant they met and had been inseparable ever since. Mingi knew everything about Yunho and Yunho knew everything about Mingi. There was no doubt in Yunho’s mind that Mingi was his best friend in the whole wide world and Mingi was a damn good best friend. Whenever Yunho felt a bit exhausted, that he’d been stretched a little too thin by his helpfulness, Mingi was always there to put him back together again. 

Mingi made everything better. Mingi re-energized Yunho and suddenly Yunho was Superman (or better yet, Spider-Man) and Yunho could do anything. 

Apparently, anything includes making the trek up to San’s stairwell room at 10 am on a Monday. Yunho silently curses his choice to not make a cup of coffee before coming here. But San seemed so panicked in his text and there was a lot of  _ help me _ ’s in there, so it had to be pretty important. 

Yunho’s knuckles barely brush against the wood of San’s door before Said door is being pulled open to reveal its frantic owner. 

“I need help,” San says and unceremoniously yanks Yunho into his room, pushing a cup of oolong tea into Yunho’s hands once he’s seated on the floor. 

San’s greeting is a far cry from normal, so Yunho already knows his friend needs help. Yet, as he looks at the state of San’s room, he realizes just how vital the situation is. The usually meticulously organized desk featuring carefully stacked boxes of tea is a warzone of tea bags and empty boxes and half-filled mugs. Yunho spots a mug with both an orange tea bag and a peppermint tea bag and resists the urge to gag at the thought of it. San must be all kinds of stressed right now. 

Yunho’s eyes slide up and that’s when he sees it. San’s signature stairwell mugs, both clearly empty, and the phone number on the slip of paper sandwiched in between the mugs. 

Yunho looks at San again, sees how he bites his lip nervously and wrings his hands together. But also sees the way the corners of his lips twitch up uncontrollably and the redness of his ears. Yunho knows that this is. 

Yunho grins and slouches to lean against the wall, taking a lazy sip of oolong tea. 

“Who’s the guy?” 

San sputters and blushes profusely and Yunho only grins wider. 

“Is that his number on the slip of paper?”

He groans and plops onto the floor next to Yunho. 

“Are you gonna text him?” 

Putting his head in his hands, San folds in on himself, not unlike a pretzel. 

“You’re so going to text him.” 

San whines. 

“I’m telling Mingi.” 

“Jeong Yunho, don’t you fucking dare,” San whips up and glares at Yunho’s shit-eating grin. 

“Oh my god, you’re so whipped,” Yunho cackles. 

“I am not,” San grumbles. Yunho lifts his phone, the threat of texting Mingi (who, bless his soul, cannot keep a secret for the life of him) lingering in the air. “Okay, okay! I’m a little whipped.” 

“So whipped,” Yunho corrects, somewhat in awe of how messy San is about all of this. San may act childish a lot of the time, but Yunho knows that San’s fully aware of how to use his body and his personality to make others swoon. He’s a little rude like that. To see San like this, blushing and fighting a smile and whining like a kid, tells Yunho that the guy who caused it has to be pretty special. “What’s his name?” 

“Wooyoung,” San says and Yunho’s happy to see how San’s face lights up as he answers. “I met him in the stairwell last night. He’s just, god, he’s so cool and really friendly and funny and  _ god _ .” 

San’s all but dissolved into a puddle on the floor. Yunho nudges the San puddle with his foot, sipping calmly from his tea. 

“So what’s the emergency exactly?” he can’t help but ask. 

“The emergency,” San declares, his voice muffled. “Is that he’s beautiful and perfect and way too cool for me and I’m not good enough to text him and ask him to coffee.” 

Yunho blinks once. Twice. Three times. He processes what San has said. 

“Look, San,” because Yunho doesn’t really know how to begin this. “You’re an amazing person. You’re full of kindness and laughter and you make, you make everything feel good. You’ll always be San at the end of the day and something tells me Wooyoung wouldn’t have given you his number unless he wanted to know you better. Just, be yourself and ask him for coffee. Give him a hug when you see him (because you give great hugs) and everything will take care of itself. Please, please don’t try to talk yourself out of this. I think this could be really good for you.” 

“It’s not that easy,” San argues. 

“I know,” Yunho says, putting down his mug and looking San dead in the eye. “But if you never ask him, you’ll never know how happy you could’ve been. Communicate with him, that’s all there is to it.” 

San’s room is silent as San mulls over Yunho’s words. Yunho finishes his tea, not pushing San to anything. Hesitantly, San grabs his phone and turns to him with a question in his eyes. Yunho smiles and San sits beside him, the two of them working on crafting a text to Wooyoung. 

“How’s Mingi doing?” San asks as they wait for a response. 

“Mingi? He’s fine, probably on his way to his shift at the store,” Yunho says, scrolling aimlessly through instagram. “Why do you ask?” 

“No reason,” San hums. He squeals when his phone pings with Wooyoung’s response (which includes way too many emojis) and Yunho laughs a little, leaning into San’s shoulder. He leaves not long later, San poking his tongue out in a way not dissimilar to a lizard, and heads to his one o’clock art history elective. 

It’s easy to find his regular seat next to Hongjoong when he makes it to class, the older boy smiling up at him just a little too desperately. Yunho fights the urge to sigh, knowing he’s gonna be spending more time talking to Hongjoong during this lecture than taking actual notes. Then again, that is what happens most of the time anyway. 

“What’s up?” Yunho says, both as a greeting and a way of figuring out what’s going on. 

“Nothing much,” Hongjoong says, his volume dropping as the professor enters. For a moment, Yunho thinks he’s saved. “I took Seonghwa on a date yesterday.” 

Yunho, who was taking a sip of the coffee he’d bought on the way to class, nearly sprays everywhere. He coughs violently, Hongjoong whacking his back and waving an apology at the professor, who only rolls her eyes and continues lecturing. 

“You did what?” Yunho says, his voice strained. Hongjoong doesn’t respond for a minute, the two of them facing the front and feigning paying attention. 

“I took him on a date and it was really nice,” Hongjoong whispers and Yunho can see the pink stains on Hongjoong’s cheeks out of the corner of his eye. 

Carefully, Yunho extends his right arm into Hongjoong’s space, pen in hand. He simply writes  _ that’s great! _ as a response. 

_ Yeah, but now I don’t know how to ask him out on another date.  _

_ What do you mean?  _

Hongjoong writes furiously at his notebook and Yunho can’t help but look up cautiously at their professor and make sure they’re not going to be caught. They probably won’t be caught since they sit towards the back and this particular professor is pretty relaxed, but Yunho still doesn’t like the idea of getting caught. 

Finally, Hongjoong quietly pushes his notebook over to Yunho so he can scan the paragraph as quickly as possible. Hongjoong’s written out the whole story of having liked Seonghwa for a while but not making a move because Seonghwa seemed a little closed off, until Seonghwa opened up to Hongjoong about the injury that ended his ballet career and Hongjoong asked him to get brunch on Sunday instead of when they’d usually choreograph with Yunho. The brunch was great, but Hongjoong is worried that Seonghwa won’t have time for him and that going on dates will mess up their vibe.

Yunho kind of wants to smack Hongjoong by the end of the paragraph. Seonghwa  _ never _ opens up about his injury, the fact that he told Hongjoong about it was unprecedented. Obviously Seonghwa likes Hongjoong back. 

“Just tell him you want to spend more time with him,” Yunho hisses as silently as he can, bowing his head and pretending to take notes. 

“What if he doesn’t want to spend time with me?” Hongjoong whispers back. 

“Then he doesn’t want to spend time with you and you move on after being a sadboi for a week,” Yunho whispers. “Respect rejection, man, I thought you knew this.”

“I do know!”

“Okay, okay. Still, don’t worry about it. Seonghwa never talks about his injury, so he must trust you and probably wants to get to know you better.” 

Hongjoong makes a soft noise of complaint, Yunho burying his head in his hands when the professor shoots daggers in their direction. They quiet and straighten themselves out, taking notes in silence for the rest of the lecture, Yunho drawing small flowers in the corners of his notebook. 

The lecture is nearly over when Hongjoong pushes his notebook Yunho’s way one last time. 

_ One more thing, Seonghwa and I want to get a group together to record in the studio and maybe make a music video for one of the songs. Would you wanna join? We’re thinking eight people, so five on top of the three of us. Could you also maybe find me like two to three more people? _

Of course, Yunho wants to join, nodding silently to himself. He loves dancing with Seonghwa and Hongjoong, it’s always one of the highlights of his week. Finding two more people won’t be easy, there aren’t a lot of dance majors who can also sing. Hongjoong snatches back the notebook and scribbles something down before pushing it back to Yunho. 

_ They don’t have to be majors, I’d actually prefer people from different backgrounds _ . 

Yunho’s mind jumps to San, who can move his body in abstract ways with practiced grace and has a good tenor voice (if San’s shower singing is anything to go by). Also, San would probably agree. And of course, Yunho’s mind goes to Mingi, who can definitely dance but will definitely take some convincing, and also can’t sing at all. But,

_ I can do that. How do you feel about adding another rapper? _

Hongjoong beams at Yunho and Yunho smiles back. He can feel the stress of the day (which he’s not even halfway through) building in the back of his mind, but his friends’ smile is enough to push the stress away. At least for now. 

The peace doesn’t last long, maybe an hour. Probably less. Even though the department had put on the fall showcase two weeks ago, Yunho’s shoved straight into preparation and organization for the winter showcase in February. He’s not dancing anything spectacular in this one, just a contemporary piece with Yeji (who is like, the best contemporary partner ever, and Yunho immediately understands why Seonghwa likes to hang out with her so much). 

The whole affair is still stressful, however, because he was nominated and elected as the sophomore representative, so he’s on a shit ton of different committees filled with people who don’t know how to verbally communicate. Sure, these people can dance to express the most complex of emotions just fine, but when it comes to being functioning people who talk through things, the other majors suck ass. 

He leaves the department at six o’clock with an eight cm binder filled with stage information he really doesn’t understand and shouldn’t be in charge of, the thought of setting up the order of pieces a present and daunting task in his mind. Yunho wants to tear his hair out, which is a far from healthy behavior, so he makes a stop at the gym and sprints five kilometers on the treadmill instead. 

He’s off the treadmill and about to head out when he sees Jongho walk in and the minute he catches Jongho’s thoughtful expression, he knows he’s in for it (again). 

“Hey,” Jongho says simply, offering Yunho an easy smile. “How’s it going?” 

“Not terrible,” Yunho lies. “Want me to spot you?” 

Jongho accepts with a wide smile and they move over to the weight room side of the gym. Jongho’s workouts are normally pretty extensive, so Yunho’s well aware of the fact that Jongho is speeding up the process for him and silently, Yunho appreciates it. They banter back and forth about silly mindless things and Yunho makes faces at Jongho when he’s on the bench, trying to make him laugh. 

“What’s new in your life?” Yunho finally asks Jongho when he’s in between reps of weighted squats. 

“Not much,” Jongho says, breathing heavily. He squats again. “I made a new friend, I guess.” 

Yunho blinks back his surprise. Jongho’s a pretty quiet person and generally doesn’t like meeting new people because it makes him nervous. 

“That’s great,” Yunho says, grinning at the other. “Who is it?” 

“His name,” Jongho huffs, squatting yet again. Yunho’s hands ghost up to hover near the weight and grab it if Jongho tells him to. “Is Yeosang. He’s a TA for the computer science department.” 

“Oh? Did he help you with that assignment you were struggling with?” 

“Yeah,” Jongho walks forward and finally sets the bar onto the holders. He leans against it heavily, his breaths labored. “He was really nice.” 

“That’s awesome,” Yunho smiles and moves to start taking the weights off the ends of the bar. 

“He gave me his number,” Jongho’s blush does not go unnoticed by Yunho. “He said I could text him whenever.” 

Yunho smiles softly at Jongho, because he’s never seen Jongho with a crush of any sort and it’s clear the feeling is new to Jongho. “Do you want to text him whenever?” 

Jongho nods and Yunho’s smile brightens a little. God, Jongho is such a good kid. 

“He said I could text him if I needed help with anything.” 

Yunho and Jongho sit on a bench in the changing room together and text the guy, Yeosang. 

_ Hey Yeosang! It’s Jongho from earlier, I hope you don’t mind, but I need your help with something...  _

_ Hey Jongho, what's up  _

_ I’m bored ;P _

Yunho and Jongho laugh together, fist-bumping. They leave the gym with plans to grab lunch on Wednesday and the knowledge that Jongho can text Yunho if he needs any more help. 

“Bye Mom! Tell Dad I say hi!” Jongho shouts with a teasing grin as they separate on the street and Yunho waves back, knowing that Jongho is talking about Mingi. 

It’s not until he arrives home that Yunho realizes just how exhausted he is by the days' events. All the stuff with his friends on top of all the work he’s got from the department is enough to make him collapse across the couch. 

He doesn’t have the energy to interact with anyone else today. He doesn’t even want to get up and make dinner. So Yunho lies on the couch, not quite asleep but not quite awake, face buried in a throw pillow. 

He doesn’t know how much time has passed when he hears the front door click open. 

“Hey Yunho, you home?” 

Mingi’s bright voice carries over to Yunho, who groans from his sprawled position on the couch, knowing that Mingi can see his feet hanging off the end and will easily connect the dots. 

Yunho can practically hear Mingi’s wince as the front door closes softly. Yunho merely squeezes his eyes tighter and buries his face deeper into the pillow. 

“Rough day?” Mingi says, his voice soft, and he can feel his presence squatting down near Yunho’s head. Cautious fingers thread their way through Yunho’s hair, scratching his scalp softly, and Yunho moans in appreciation. 

“More of a long day,” Yunho breathes. “The department sucks and our friends are dumb.”

“We’re dumb,” Mingi chuckles. “That’s why we’re friends with dumb people.” 

Yunho reaches up half-heartedly to swat at Mingi, who catches Yunho’s hand easily and threads their fingers together. Yunho relaxes a little at the touch. 

“What happened today?” Mingi asks after a few moments of silently petting Yunho’s head. 

Yunho turns his head to the side so he can see Mingi, huffing slightly so that his bangs blow up. Mingi smiles at him and Yunho feels just a little bit better. 

Yunho tells him about his day. About San freaking out over the boy he’d met in the stairwell, Hongjoong taking Seonghwa out on a date and not knowing how to ask for more, and their child Jongho finding a cute (and free) tutor in computer science. 

He hugs Mingi from behind as the other moves around the kitchen to make Yunho’s favorite comfort food, deluxe instant ramyun, and tells him how the answers to all their issues seem easy, they just have to communicate with the person. Mingi laughs softly and tells him, “It’s not as easy as we make it look or else everyone would do it.” 

They sit side-by-side on the floor, bowls of deluxe instant ramyun (which is just instant ramyun in a nice bowl with an egg, some nori, ham, and a ton of bamboo shoots) on the coffee table, their legs tangled together as they slurp up their food and watch reruns of  _ So You Think You Can Dance? _ .

Mingi points out a song they should try at some point and Yunho nods, poking Mingi’s sides as he tells him he’ll make a trained dancer of him yet. In the back of his mind, he knows he should ask Mingi about Hongjoong’s project, but he pushes the thought and stress aside in favor of enjoying the way Mingi shouts when Yunho teases him. 

Mingi does his homework on the coffee table, trapped in place by Yunho’s legs wrapped around his torso, the taller sitting above him on the couch with a game controller in hand. They go like this for hours, small conversations murmured between them and Yunho pressing his forehead into the top of Mingi’s head with a groan of frustration when he loses a level or dies stupidly.

It’s way past midnight when Yunho realizes he’s not nearly as stressed as he was before and that, once again, Mingi has made everything better. 

“C’mon, bedtime,” Yunho says, pulling a groaning Mingi to his feet. Yunho can feel the exhaustion radiating from him. 

“Right, right,” Mingi mutters, heading for his room. Yunho’s about to go into his own when he hears Mingi groan, “Fuck.” 

“What’s wrong?” Yunho frowns, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. 

“I forgot to switch my sheets over to the dryer,” Mingi groans. “It’s gonna take at least another hour.”

“Just crash with me,” Yunho says, opening the door to his room. “Come over when you’re ready.” 

Mingi’s soft thanks echoes in their empty living room. Tiredly, Yunho pulls on his pajamas and climbs into his designated side of the bed (normally he sleeps in the middle, but when Mingi needs to crash he sleeps on the right), shutting off the light. They’ve shared before, so Yunho trusts Mingi to be able to find his way around, especially since Mingi is sober and every other time they’ve shared a bed they’ve both been drunk off their asses. 

Sure enough, the soft padding of Mingi’s feet comes in a few minutes later and his weight drops onto the left side of the double bed. 

“Thanks Yunho, I owe you one,” Mingi says, sleep evident in his tone. 

“Don’t even think about it,” Yunho yawns. He gravitates towards Mingi, their legs entangling as they adjust themselves to their normal post-drinking cuddling position. “Goodnight, Mingi.” 

“‘Night, Yunho,” Mingi yawns, dropping a lazy kiss onto Yunho’s neck before drifting off into sleep. 

Yunho’s moments from sleep when it hits him. 

_ Holy hell, Mingi just kissed my neck _ . 

Him and Mingi have always been physically affectionate. It was natural for them, but they didn’t kiss each other in any way. They just didn’t.

Yunho wonders why they haven’t. 

It hits him like a truck. He’s known for ages that the way he feels about Mingi is different than the rest of his friends. They way they treat each other goes far beyond the average friendship, even a close friendship. He’s always chalked it up to them being best friends and honestly, he couldn’t feel more idiotic about it now. 

Maybe it was because he had spent his whole day playing various forms of matchmaker for their friends, maybe it was because of the way Mingi was sleeping soundly against him and the way it makes his heart lift. But Yunho knows that he has a crush on his best friend. 

That he really, really liked his best friend as more than a friend. 

Yunho knows better than to say he’s in love with Song Mingi, but it certainly isn’t off the table. He doesn’t know how Mingi feels and he needs to find that out first before anything can happen. He supposes he’ll just have to communicate with Mingi to find out. God, the irony of it all makes him want to laugh. 

For now, though, Yunho is content to press a cautious kiss into the crown of Mingi’s head and close his eyes to feel Mingi’s soft hair brushing against his cheek. 

As long as Mingi is by his side, Yunho will be just fine. 

**Author's Note:**

> This took so long because I kept writing Mingi's story instead, whoops. On the other hand, Mingi's story is gonna be freaking awesome. But I hope you guys enjoyed this! I really, really love Yunho and I felt like it was just him to keep helping and helping people and not realize how much it was affecting him. It only makes sense that Mingi's the one to make him feel better again. 
> 
> But yeah, I love Yunho. He's so soft. He's so, so soft. Like, he's such a baby and I love him. 
> 
> Also, I was originally going to have Hongjoong's story be the one that ties everyone together? Because, y'know, he's the leader and stuff. But I realized that I couldn't just, like, make it work without some precursor and it just felt so natural for Yunho to be the connecting line between people. I mean, he's just so good. 
> 
> Also, I go back to school in five days, which means I'll have like 9 hours to write between my flights and my layover, so hopefully I should get a lot done!


End file.
